Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much revenue was raised under the Apprenticeship Levy from businesses in Northern Ireland during each of the five past financial years.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Apprenticeship Levy was introduced in 2017-18, and the outturn data is not yet available for 2021-22. The table below shows the estimated amount of levy paid by employers who are registered in Northern Ireland, rounded to the nearest £5m, for the first four financial years since the introduction of the Levy:
| 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 |
Apprenticeship Levy Receipts | £25m | £30m | £30m | £30m |
Please note that these estimates are based on where employers are registered, and therefore does not necessarily reflect where the liabilities are accrued. They don’t include businesses registered in Wales, Scotland, or England, who have a presence and pay employees in Northern Ireland. Meanwhile, they include businesses registered in Northern Ireland, who have a presence and pay employees in Wales, Scotland, or England, but it assumes that the total pay bill is within Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to develop an associated tax strategy as part of his Department's net zero review.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Net Zero Review, which was published in October, explored the trade-offs and key issues, such as the likely fiscal implications of the transition, for the UK as it decarbonises. As per the Report’s terms of reference, it did not contain policy detail on how sectors will decarbonise, but set out that the Government may need to consider changes to existing taxes to deliver net zero sustainably and consistently with the Government’s fiscal strategy.
The UK Emissions Trading scheme and a wide range of taxes, including the Climate Change Levy, Vehicle Excise Duty, and Carbon Price Support rate, are already in place to encourage businesses and consumers to make greener choices. The Government is committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050 and keeps all taxes under review to ensure that they are helping us achieve this goal.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of using additional economic indicators to reflect measurements of (a) well-being and (b) environmental impact.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Treasury uses a range of data and indicators when analysing the economy and setting economic policy.
The Treasury also considers indicators of environmental impact when making spending decisions. All departments are required to prepare their spending proposals in line with the Green Book on Appraisal and Evaluation, which mandates consideration of climate and environmental impacts in spending, and was recently updated to emphasise that policies must be developed and assessed against how well they deliver on long-term policy aims such as net zero. Similarly, the Treasury carefully considers the environmental implications of relevant tax measures. The Government incorporated a climate assessment in all relevant Tax Information and Impact Notes (TIINs) for measures at Budget and will continue to do so in future TIINs. For example, the TIIN for the new Plastic Packaging Tax incorporates an assessment of anticipated carbon savings.
Additionally, the Treasury commissioned an independent, global review on the economics of biodiversity, culminating in the publication of the Dasgupta Review February 2021. In line with the report’s recommendations, the Treasury has committed to working with the ONS to improve the way nature is incorporated into our national accounts.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has contingency plans in place to provide financial support to Devolved Administrations for assistance to businesses in circumstances where the outbreak of covid-19 requires lockdown measures to be taken.
Answered by Simon Clarke
Public health is a devolved matter and so many of the health measures implemented across the UK in response to COVID-19 fall within the competence of the devolved administrations. COVID-19 has shown how the UK Government can work strategically and collaboratively with the devolved administrations to manage our response to the pandemic across the whole of the UK and it remains committed to continuing to do so.
Businesses in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are able to access UK-wide covid support, including:
- a reduced rate of VAT for tourism and hospitality - businesses in these sectors pay only 12.5% in VAT from 1 October until 31 March 2022, helping to support around 150,000 businesses and protect 2.4 million jobs UK-wide.
- continued access to Government-guaranteed finance for businesses across the UK, thanks to the extension of the Recovery Loan scheme to 30 June 2022.
The devolved administrations have also benefitted from an extra £12.6 billion through the Barnett formula this year – including an extra £1.3 billion confirmed at the recent Autumn Budget - taking total block grant funding in 2021-22 to £77.6 billion. This is enabling the devolved administrations to provide support to individuals, businesses and public services across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in relation to COVID-19.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the impact on the economy of a potential partial suspension of the Trade and Co-operation Agreement by the EU in the event that the Government triggers Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government remains in intensive discussions with the EU with the aim of delivering significant changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol, as set out in the Command Paper published in July.
Our preference is to find a consensual solution that deals with the problems which exist. However, it is the responsibility of the UK Government to safeguard peace and prosperity in Northern Ireland, and if solutions cannot be found this could include using Article 16. The safeguards in Article 16 are designed to ease acute problems, not to cause or compound them.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if the Government will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing (a) regional mutual banks and/or (b) regional angel finance programmes for the purposes contributing to its Levelling Up agenda and enhancing competition and lending practices within the banking sector.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government welcomes the efforts to establish regional mutual banks and recognises the importance of diversity in the banking system. Officials have been engaging with prospective mutual banks over their efforts to raise capital and look forward to further discussions.
The British Business Bank is already delivering the Regional Angels Programme, a £100m scheme which seeks to increase the aggregate amount of early-stage equity capital that is available to smaller businesses with high growth potential across the UK. This programme is off to a promising start and has seen very strong demand. The British Business Bank will assess the effectiveness of the programme in meeting its stated objectives in due course.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he is planning to extend the SME Supporting Factor beyond 2022 to maintain lending capacity and businesses' access to finance.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The "SME supporting factor”, allows firms to apply a discount (ranging between 15% and 24%) to risk weightings for qualifying exposures to SMEs.
This measure was introduced by the EU and deviates from internationally agreed Basel standards.
The recent Financial Services Act 2021, passed in May, delegated responsibility for the implementation of capital requirements relating to the international Basel standards to the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). This is subject to an enhanced accountability framework, which requires the PRA to consider the impact of their rules on the ability of firms to provide finance to the UK economy (including SMEs) on a sustainable basis in the medium and long-term.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the Bank of England's Term Funding Scheme for SMEs beyond it's planned expiry date of October 2021.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Monetary policy is the responsibility of the independent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England and this includes decisions on Bank Rate and quantitative easing. The separation of fiscal and monetary policy is a key feature of the UK’s economic framework, and essential for the effective delivery of monetary policy, so the Government does not comment on the conduct or effectiveness of monetary policy.Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to mitigate potentially anti-competitive consequences of the Government's lending schemes via the (a) Bounce Back Loan, (b) Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan and (c) Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan for the UK banking sector.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Over 1.6 million businesses accessed over £79 billion of finance through the Covid-19 business loan schemes. The Treasury recognises the vital role that non-banks and challenger banks play in the provision of credit to SMEs. It is grateful for the way the sector has responded to the current crisis, and remains committed to promoting the participation of a diversity of lenders in the market and widening the funding options available to UK businesses.We will continue to work with non-bank lenders to support their participation in the new Recovery Loan scheme following the closure of the previous loan guarantee schemes, as well as engaging closely with alternative lenders and continuing to promote competition more generally.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent changes have been made to the Green Book in assessing value for money to give weighting for bids from particular regions; and if he will set out that weighting.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Green Book sets out guidance on how to appraise policies,
programmes and projects, to help public servants give objective advice to decision makers. In November 2020 the Government completed a review of the Green Book, which included new requirements for the appraisal of place based impacts. This guidance sets out that where a proposal has geographically defined objectives, then the principal frame of the analysis should be on the effects on that area specifically. Alternatively, where a proposal is expected to have different implications for parts of the UK, then these impacts on different places should be appraised and presented to support decision making.
Value for money is a judgement following the application of the wider Green Book method. These judgements also need to consider un-quantified factors and the extent to which different options best meet the objectives for intervention, rather than a quantified score alone. It is therefore not possible to apply regional weightings to these wider considerations which are necessary in assessing value for money.